Schuey on the podium!! get in!!

After the Marathon I had a day off from training. Next day I got in touch with Plucky to see if he was doing the easy 10k run as in previous weeks. When he said he was thinking of moving it up to 8 mile I almost said 'i'll not bother then', but that would have robbed me of the chance to relate to Plucky my  "marathon winning story". So I went along with him
Darren came too so we got an average speed readout from his Garmin.
6:30 per mile!!
No wonder my legs felt a bit tired by mile 5!

Next day was Torch day. Yes the Olympic Flame was coming to Carlisle. If ever there was a good time to take up smoking then this day would surely be it as the need to also buy matches or a lighter would be negated.

Prior to watching the torch I had a wee blast of reps. 2x1 mile and 2x800metres. Pretty nippy times were recorded too - I was well pleased.

Check out the redhead (LHS) eyeballing me. A Met' trained killer no doubt, poised to disable me in a millisecond had my camera  been something more sinister (like a Nikon)

Thursday was a day off work (and training) to watch the torch again, in Keswick this time, my pal Appleby Stu was carrying it to the edge of Keswick for them while they fixed the bus. Luckily the bus was fettled up just in time and took the flame from Stu to drive it to Ambleside (where I hear it broke down again but luckily there were people standing by to carry it further.)

Too tired to run another step, Stu limbered up ready to launch the Olympic flame down to Thirlmere. Luckily, the Met's finest officers were in attendance to prevent such a faux pas

Farmer Palmer closes the gate to keep the water from going further

Friday afternoon I jogged around the river circuit in glorious warm rain.

Friday night was stormy. The county flooded overnight and Saturday saw the river Eden enter Rickerby Park in several additional places to normal, necessitating a change of plan from my Crosby  10 loop with 5 mile time trial effort within. I probably did about 10 miles, but with just a 4 mile time trial effort within it. Horrendous wind made pacing this quite tricky, with 30 seconds difference between my fastest and slowest recorded miles. 6:08 average (for the 4 not the whole 10)

Fellrunning was planned for Sunday. The poor weather forecast was irrelevant to me as I knew we weren't going too high and would be putting in a decent level of effort throughout so would generate our own heat. Although we did encounter plenty of rain it wasn't bad at all and there were plenty of clear spells too. Clear enough in fact that Penrith Stu expertly guided us (me, Wes, Scamp and Stu) around a quite superb route from Mardale head which included Wether Hill, High Raise, Kidsty Pike, High st, Thornthwaite Beacon, Mardale Ill Bell and Harter Fell. (yes Stu I had to look at the big map to see where we had been). In the end then it was quite high. Pretty far (as opposed to pretty AND far) too at 16 miles (according to Wes' Garmin). In keeping with my new regime of running up fells until it really is too steep and beyond my ability, I never walked on any of the climbs during this run.  All excellent training indeed for the Lakeland 50, now less than 5 weeks away.

Having given up on running with the Monday night boys (they either go early, or not at all, or are late at work) I again jogged the river loop with Scamp. I felt very tired during this and spent two x10 minutes walking  - still covered the 7 miles of course, but took me ages.

Darren came with me tonight for another reps session. Same session as last Wednesday but with an extra mile of 800s.

1 mile - 5:42 (5 secs faster than last week)
1 mile - 5:27 (1 sec faster than last week but only a  cruising effort  - 85%)
800m - 2:40
800m - 2:35
800m - 2:39
800m - 2:35 (all faster than last week)

REALLY PLEASED to be running 5:15 avg pace for 800m reps. That lull I was encountering a few weeks ago has certainly passed and I seem to have emerged from it faster than ever. well perhaps not faster than ever, but you know what I mean.